It’s a simple fact that for many of us, the main focal point in our living rooms is the television.

It’s also a fact that not all living rooms were designed with that purpose in mind. Some have fireplaces, floor-to ceiling windows, or strangely angled walls that don’t lend themselves nicely to a layout that makes watching TV comfortable.

So what’s a design-savvy, Netflix-binging person to do?

You don’t need to compromise between a space that looks nice and accommodates your favorite activities. To prove it, we pulled some of our favorite customer spaces to show off some of our favorite tips and tricks for TV-viewing layout solutions.

Use the back of your sofa to define the space

Challenge: A living room that also serves as the entryway where people are constantly walking through on their way in and out.

Solve: Rather than placing the sofa against one wall and the TV against the other, try pulling the sofa several feet away from the wall, letting it float in the middle of the space. The back of the sofa can act like a wall, keeping the walkway behind it clear and creating an intimate living space for family time around the TV.

Try swivel chairs for an easy swap to TV-viewing

Challenge: Finding a layout that allows you to enjoy the fireplace and watch TV, all without straining your neck.

Solve: Instead of facing your sofa towards the fireplace, try rotating your living room furniture 90 degrees. This makes for a great conversational area centered around the fireplace and lets the sofa face the TV, which is tucked out of the way, against the opposite wall.

Bonus: The two blue armchairs can swivel around, to face the TV, making for easy extra seating when guests are over.

Divide a large space into multiple zones

Challenge: A large, open, and long living room that needs to accommodate multiple activities.

Solve: Rather than designing this room as one large living space, consider a layout that breaks up the room into two distinct areas – a formal living area and a more casual TV viewing space. A great way to visually separate the two “zones” is to use different area rugs. This will help the two spaces feel connected, yet distinct.

Place your TV next to the fireplace, on an angle

Challenge: If you want to make your fireplace the focal point of the room, but also want to include a TV, you might think your only option is to mount your TV above the mantle.

Solve: A simple solve for this can be to place your TV at an angle on a credenza next to the fireplace. This allows you to enjoy both focal points, without the TV overwhelming the space.

Use your sofa to divide the space

Challenge: Making an open floor work for multiple functions like a dining, living, and study space.

Solve: Use your sofa to divide an open space can be a great way to create separation between the different areas. Here, the sofa floats in the middle of the room, facing the only wall where a TV could be mounted and not block the windows. This allows for a small dining area behind the sofa and a desk by the windows.

Get creative and utilize nooks and crannies

Challenge: An open living space with a lot of windows and no clear spot to place a TV.

Solve: Utilizing small nooks can be a great work-around for rooms with no obvious place for the TV. Rather than blocking a window, which can cause your TV to look backlit and block your view, try placing your TV in an otherwise un-utilized space, like this nook below the staircase.

Thanks so much for putting this together!! I’ve been struggling for weeks with this decision. We have picked out our sofa and chairs (starting over from scratch basically!) but I couldn’t decide if they would actually fit in our living room and in what layout. We’ve decided to make this living room our TV room but still want it to be functional for guests/conversation. We’ve decided to go with the second layout which seems perfect. Our room has FOUR doors entering the room so working around those has been quite a headache…

Hi Cam – thanks for sharing your experience! We’re so glad our post was able to help you find a solution to your layout struggles. If you need more assistance finding the right layout and furniture for your space, we’d love to help! Send us a note at hello@modsy.com at any time if you have questions. Happy designing!

I have almost the EXACT SAME issue! I have a ‘long’ living room with a triple window wall (with the entry door) opposed to the next longer wall. I have the TV on the long wall opposite the windows but my TV wiring is also on the window wall. I have everything moved over except one Ethernet cord which is soon to be hidden under an area rug (however some of it will show :/ ). I was thinking about maybe leaving room behind the couch where the windows are as a walk way? and the rug might anchor the couch to the TV? But my room seems long and narrow so IDK if this will work. I guess we’ll see!
Just wild that I was reading your comment and thinking, is this person in my living room or what?!

Yes long living spaces can be a particular challenge! If you need help finding the best layout for your space we’d be happy to help. You can “try on” different layouts and furniture in a 3D version of your exact room with Modsy. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

I really appreciated the thoughts contained in this blog on arrangement of space for TV watching. I have a dilemma. I moved into new home with an odd living space. The living/TV area is 14×16 with one long wall, a triple window wall opposed to the next longer wall that is also the entry door wall. The other two shorter walls are divided walls with one a hall entry and the other open to a kitchen- very limited TV arrangement options. The builder put the TV wiring on a short wall in the corner by the windows- bad. I moved the wiring to the entry wall opposite the windows. The problem though is that the loveseat sofa, if directly opposite the TV, will sit 12′ away from the TV, quite a far distance for optimum viewing of a 65″ 4K TV by the charts which state up to 9′ max. The only other option I can see is to put the loveseat as a divider between kitchen and living space and move the stressless to front and center of the TV viewing. I am primarily alone when watching TV but is that design worthy as a plan?